Help solving a predator mystery...

[ducklover15]

Thanks for the responses!

Darn coons...I raise ducks and have had wings pulled off from coons.

I think we'll have to set up the traps differently and hopefully catch the culprit.

I've seen a hawk attack his chickens but it never got any. He said he saw a hawk carry a chicken off once...so it probably wasn't one of those.

These aren't fully grown turkeys so it's possible an owl could have done it. The turkeys are only about 3 months old.

Something could have gone into the pen since there's no top and the walls really aren't that tall. The dead turkeys were really weird because it looked like they were born without a head. The wounds were that clean. There was nothing left up to the shoulders.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
A Great Horned Owl can kill a full grown turkey and when they do, they only eat the neck and head. Sometimes they just eat the neck. What they are after is the juggler vein for the blood. If you noticed, there probably wasn't a lot of blood all over the place. If there was, it wasn't an owl.
I got the following out of a National Geographic article:
"Like other owls, these birds have an incredible digestive system. They sometimes swallow their prey whole and later regurgitate pellets composed of bone, fur, and the other unwanted parts of their meal. Owls are efficient nighttime hunters that strike from above, and use their powerful talons to kill and carry animals several times heavier than themselves. Owls prey on a huge variety of creatures, including raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, domestic birds, falcons, and other owls. They regularly eat skunks, and may be the only animal with such an appetite. They sometimes hunt for smaller game by standing or walking along the ground. Owls have even been known to prey upon unlucky cats and dogs."
Anything that can kill a skunk can kill a turkey.

 

[ducklover15]

Wow maybe it was an owl...there was no sign of blood anywhere.

 

[Kennyog]

Coon.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
That is a completely false statement. A barn owl (and other large owls) can easily take a chicken out and will do it. I know this from experience. Also, a Goshawk (Accipiter) is not a member of the broadwinged hawks (Buteos) and they are more likely to kill chickens than the buteos because they are much better hunters.
I don't know what killed the turkeys because I wasn't there but, coons leave very distinct tracks and are very sloppy. Plus, OP said turkeys had been left out.

 

[ducklover15]

I'm really leaning toward owl because the site was very clean. There were a few feathers but no blood and the bodies minus the entire head/neck were clean. The turkey that's still alive had a ripped crop/neck and a couple puncture wounds by the shoulders. Maybe it was grabbed and let go.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
That is a completely false statement. A barn owl (and other large owls) can easily take a chicken out and will do it. I know this from experience.
I don't know what killed the turkeys because I wasn't there but, coons leave very distinct tracks and are very sloppy. Plus, OP said turkeys had been left out.

You are of course free to disagree but I stand by this. Barn owls eat mice and such vermin. A barn owl would probably go for a very young chicken, but I mean very small as in barely feathered. They aren't usually much larger than a chicken in fact, 12 to ~possibly~ 16 inches tip to tail, while a SMALL great horned is larger than the largest barn owl, considerably heavier even if they're close in length, and can and does regularly kill full grown rabbits, geese, ducks, and yes, chickens that roost outdoors I'd say a turkey, especially a young one is on par with many of these. I would think a full grown turkey would be vulnerable too, though possibly a little less so because of their bulkier look when roosting. We have a local large population of Canada geese that get preyed on frequently by great horned owls mostly in the spring and early summer when they are somewhat limited due to their raising their young at that time.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
That is a completely false statement. A barn owl (and other large owls) can easily take a chicken out and will do it. I know this from experience.
I don't know what killed the turkeys because I wasn't there but, coons leave very distinct tracks and are very sloppy. Plus, OP said turkeys had been left out.

You are of course free to disagree but I stand by this. Barn owls eat mice and such vermin. A barn owl would probably go for a very young chicken, but I mean very small as in barely feathered. They aren't usually much larger than a chicken in fact, 12 to ~possibly~ 16 inches tip to tail, while a SMALL great horned is larger than the largest barn owl, considerably heavier even if they're close in length, and can and does regularly kill full grown rabbits, geese, ducks, and yes, chickens that roost outdoors I'd say a turkey, especially a young one is on par with many of these. I would think a full grown turkey would be vulnerable too, though possibly a little less so because of their bulkier look when roosting. We have a local large population of Canada geese that get preyed on frequently by great horned owls mostly in the spring and early summer when they are somewhat limited due to their raising their young at that time.

I do disagree and can back it up with just a small amount of google search. Google Barn Owl vs Chicken.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
OK, I did. I don't see any reputable evidence to back up your stance. I found these though... by searching on "Diet of Barn Owl"

http://www.owling.com/Barn_nh.htm
http://www.owls.org/Species/tyto/food.htm
http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/newsltr/v7n2/sa-9.htm
http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore_raptors/owls/barnowl.html
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Owl/lifehistory#at_food
http://www.sentex.net/~tntcomm/kwfn/BarnOwlRecoveryProgrammeOntario.html

and specifically found quotes like this "Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, the Barn Owl does not eat domestic animals on any sort of regular basis; it might snatch a young chicken or guinea pig once or twice in its life, if at all."

on Great Horned Owls, I found these by searching on "Diet of Great Horned Owl".

http://www.owling.com/GHO_nh.htm
http://extension.umd.edu/publications/pdfs/fs802.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Horned_Owl
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/lifehistory#at_food

I'd be very interested in seeing any articles or valid studies that say that Barn Owls eat anything other than smaller rodents and indeed insects. Lets do this via PM though because we're really hijacking this thread from the original topic! (or else start a new thread about owls as predators!)

 

[gypsy2621]

I have seen coons leave behind very little evidence of them being there,
the one we shot in the process of pulling a turkey though the chain link left little evidence other than its own body matter.( if you know what I mean)
up until that time 2 nights of grabbing poults through the wire it never even left so much as a feather.